Introduction
For the past three years, I have followed how one rural elementary school in Kentucky, the Berea Community Elementary School (BCES), has prioritized family engagement. I began this case study research in spring 2021. At that time, students were still partially attending school remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Black Lives Matter protests that began in June 2020 were still fresh. Now in 2023, people routinely ask: How did schools respond to these monumental events? How did their responses evolve as students returned in-person and as backlash to racial progress swept the nation? This case study shares the story of one school, but the lessons about its successes - as well as its missteps and missed opportunities - will resonate for many more.
This report represents the culmination of three years of work. In Year 1, I found that the school was committed to parent engagement and this commitment led leaders to engage families at multiple levels, including through parent cafes and Families and Schools Together (FAST) group meetings, all while navigating the challenges associated with learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Black Lives Matter movement led families to advocate for change within the district, advocacy that led to the creation of key staff positions at the district level and to audits that examined curricular materials across grade levels.
In Year 2, I found the newly appointed Equity Director and Curriculum Specialist experienced challenges with implementing the role. These challenges included communicating to school constituencies about the purpose and function of the role. Moreover, families were no longer invited to participate in the school’s professional development offerings and the parent cafes had been discontinued. Across both years, there remained a need for BCES to increase communication to families about school engagement offerings, plan for personnel shifts and ensure that family engagement remained a priority for new personnel, and continue to build a family engagement model that emphasized the role of all stakeholders.
This report brings the story of family engagement at BCES to a close by analyzing three key foci: family engagement activities and events; the community’s recruitment, transition, and capacity-building of school personnel; and tracking the district’s steps toward building an equitable environment for all students. While opportunities for deepening its approaches to family engagement remain, it is clear that school officials serving caregivers see strong family engagement practices as necessary to creating a vibrant school community. Similarly, pursuing equitable approaches to education at Berea have shifted as personnel and committee structures evolve, but senior leaders remain interested in embedding equity and inclusion in the school’s culture. To solidify the school’s commitment to creating an equitable and libratory school environment, officials must continue to examine how and where there are opportunities to explicitly argue for equity and to build on gains made by involving families in decision making.
Read the Kentucky Collaborative Final Evaluation Report: Berea Community School Year 3